Célia Margalef in the Sculpture Garden: A Mild Evening at Can Brut

Célia Margalef in the Sculpture Garden: A Mild Evening at Can Brut

It was the kind of evening you imagine for a Mallorcan June: warm air scented with lavender, a soft breeze running through olive trees and Aleppo pines, and the occasional click of heels on the gravel path. At the artist finca Can Brut, as part of the series "Music in the Sculpture Garden", the young pianist Célia Margalef Boquera took her place at the grand piano — and the small crowd gathered among the sculptures held its breath.

The program was bold yet personal: it opened with Bach's famous Toccata in D minor, originally written for the organ. Margalef met the challenge of rethinking an organ work for the piano not with cleverly disguised historicist rhetoric but with careful use of the pedal and a warm legato that let the lines breathe. Little birdcalls mixed into the higher registers, the wind played with the leaves — an intimate moment that did not feel contrived but simply happened.

Pieces from The Well-Tempered Clavier and excerpts from the Goldberg Variations followed with unobtrusive depth; you could tell that this was someone who loves Bach's forms without smothering them. That made her approach sympathetic: no urge to overwhelm, but a personal offer of dialogue between artist, composer and audience, as in Simone Kermes: A classical evening that was anything but classical.

After the break, Mozart reopened the program: the Rondo K. 485 arrived with character, without rococo prettiness; nothing felt superficially charming, but rather precisely articulated with a real sense of structure. A similar intimacy appears in Morning Music in the Bodega: A Quiet Autumn Opening with Mozart, Rachmaninoff and Dvořák.

The twelve Variations on "Ah! vous dirai‑je, Maman" were presented with sobriety and cheekiness alike: the theme as a clear call, the variations as little workshop pieces, sometimes virtuosic, sometimes contemplative. Chopin's Ballade No. 1 Op. 23 brought a different color: darker, sighing, with that melancholic warmth one often finds on the island in small, unexpected moments.

A brief breath from the north came in the form of Grieg's "Lyric Pieces", then Margalef opened up her own biography in Spanish colors: Albéniz and finally Manuel de Falla with the "Danza ritual del fuego", which built an almost physical tension in the garden. The short moments of applause became less interruptions than collective exhalations of the evening.

For an encore she chose a Bach chorale prelude: "Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme." A simple, almost humble thank you to the composer, to organizers Anna and Rudi Neuland, and to an audience that prefers listening to checking their phones. Small scenes on the side: an older gentleman adjusts his hat, two students whisper excitedly, a bicycle lock clatters in the half‑dark — perfectly normal island reality.

What does an evening like this mean for Mallorca? It is more than just a cultural morsel between tourist flows and beach days. Places like Can Brut and series like "Music in the Sculpture Garden" create spaces for discovery, as described in Santa Cecilia on Mallorca: When Organ Pipes Color the Harbor Evening. A young artist is given room, the audience experiences closeness rather than grand scale. This strengthens the island's cultural network and shows that classical music here is not a dusty relic but alive and accessible.

Those who walk back through the darkening olive groves after the concert carry not only music in their heads but also the feeling of having become part of something local. Hopefully Margalef will come again soon — and hopefully there will be more evenings like this on small fincas, in courtyards and on church squares. Mallorca needs precisely this mixture of serenity and quality: places where making music is still an encounter.

Outlook

For those who missed the evening: the concert series lives on surprises. Keep your eyes and ears open and follow the summer program — who knows which discovery awaits next; for example, see Matinee at Bodega Macià Batle: Chopin Scherzi and Mendelssohn Trio on 30 November 2025.